Benn Steil’s new Forbes op-ed examines Paul Krugman's data analysis purporting to document definitively that "austerity," defined by declines in real government purchases, damaged growth between 2010 and 2013. He shows that this finding collapses entirely when he excludes countries without independent monetary policies, such as those in the Eurozone. For countries with independent monetary policies, changes in real government purchases had no effect on growth.

The OECD’s approach to bringing in emerging powers as “key partners” is a smart way to remain relevant in a quickly shifting global landscape, argue Stewart Patrick and Naomi Egel. Other multilateral organizations should pay attention.

It is often said that academics could do a better job speaking to the general public. It can probably also be said that academics could use a dose of looking at the forest as well as the trees. In the area of regulatory management, both appear to be true.

Renewing America

Is the U.S. trade deficit a problem for the United States? If so, does it reflect competitiveness problems that are in part due to trade policies, or is it caused by factors that have nothing to do with trade policies? What are the proper policy responses?

President Barack Obama issued an Executive Order on March 9, 2015, which includes targeted sanctions of individuals who have violated the Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014.

The number of U.S. regulations—which affect nearly every aspect of Americans’ lives, from the food and medicine they consume to the quality of the air they breathe and how they save for retirement—has consistently been on the rise. As a result, U.S. businesses are increasingly burdened, but not competitively disadvantaged, because their peers in other advanced countries tend to face even more regulations, according to a new progress report and scorecard from the Council on Foreign Relations’ Renewing America initiative.

Renewing America

The United States used to be the trailblazer in regulatory reform. But the rest of the rich world has caught up. This Progress Report and Scorecard from the Renewing America initiative outlines the current state of federal regulation in the United States and charts ways the U.S. regulatory management system could be improved.

In the lasting debate over Thomas Piketty’s book on outsized returns on capital, a significant fact has been obscured: If you exclude land and housing, capital has not risen as a share of the U.S. economy.

Renewing America

The latest partisan wranglings over net neutrality are yet another reminder of just how divided Republicans and Democrats are over the costs and benefits of federal regulations—the vast swathe of rules that govern everything from air quality to auto safety.

Steven A. Tananbaum Senior Fellow for International Economics Robert Kahn argues that while new collective action clauses are a step forward in dealing with sovereign debt crises, countries must work to change old debt that lacks the clauses to the new standard as quickly as possible.

CFR Experts Guide

The Council on Foreign Relations' David Rockefeller Studies Program—CFR's "think tank"—is home to more than seventy full-time, adjunct, and visiting scholars and practitioners (called "fellows"). Their expertise covers the world's major regions as well as the critical issues shaping today's global agenda. Download the printable CFR Experts Guide.

The authors argue that the United States has responded inadequately to the rise of Chinese power and recommend placing less strategic emphasis on the goal of integrating China into the international system and more on balancing China's rise.

Campbell evaluates the implications of the Boko Haram insurgency and recommends that the United States support Nigerian efforts to address the drivers of Boko Haram, such as poverty and corruption, and to foster stronger ties with Nigerian civil society.

2014 Annual Report

Learn more about CFR’s mission and its work over the past year in the 2014 Annual Report. The Annual Report spotlights new initiatives, high-profile events, and authoritative scholarship from CFR experts, and includes a message from CFR President Richard N. Haass.Read and download »